What’s happening in Charlottesville-Albemarle the week of January 13?

Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings in the comments section.

The launch of the Piedmont Cultural Alliance’s new cultural plan—the first ever for the area—takes place from 5-6:30pm Monday, January 13 at the Paramount Theater on the Downtown Mall. The event is free and open to the public, and includes wine, hor d’oeuvres, and live music from 5-6pm in the Paramount ballroom, followed by remarks and a presentation in the main theater. More details on the plan are at charlottesvillearts.org/createcville.

The Charlottesville Planning Commission meets from 5:30-11pm Tuesday, January 14. On the agenda is the blight hearing for the Landmark Hotel property, a joint public hearing with the City Council on the five-year Capital Improvement Program, a rezoning application for a planned unit development along Water Street near the under-construction City Walk development, a special use permit for one of the proposed student housing developments on West Main Street, and a hearing on amending the Comprehensive Plan to create a Strategic Investment Area bordering Belmont, Fifeville, and Downtown.

The Albemarle County Planning Commission also meets Tuesday night, from 6-8pm. Its agenda includes a public hearing on a drive-through lane for a Chik-Fil-A on Pantops and a proffer amendment proposal on a property near Proffit Road zoned mixed commercial.

The Albemarle County Service Authority holds its first meeting of 2014 on Thursday, January 16. In addition to regular business, the ACSA will be approving an issues agenda for the coming year.

As DeAndre Harris’ attorney played video footage of a group of white supremacists beating him to the ground in the Market Street Parking Garage on August 12, Harris sank back in his chair and closed his eyes. Today, he was on trial in Charlottesville General District Court for an encounter that

Editor’s note: Hours after we went to press, it was announced that Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter would be sitting out the NCAA Tournament due to a broken left wrist (he undergoes surgery Monday, March 19). No. 1 Virginia takes on No. 16 University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Candles in, tiki torches out Just ahead of Jason Kessler’s March 6 lawsuit against the city complaining that City Manager Maurice Jones unconstitutionally denied his permit for a two-day August 12 anniversary rally—Jones also denied five other applicants’ permit requests for the weekend—City

By: Samantha Baars and Erin O’Hare It was exactly a month ago that a gunman shot 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Today, local students and their peers across the nation said they won’t stand for that—so they walked. March 14 marks the first

It wasn’t enough that a wrongful conviction took nearly 13 years of Robert Davis’ life. Now, two years after he was released from prison and more than a year after then-Governor Terry McAuliffe granted him a full pardon, the General Assembly is stalled in a budget war that threatens to hose

Charlottesville man Donald Blakney, who is accused of maliciously wounding an Arkansas resident on August 12, had his charge certified to the grand jury in Charlottesville General District Court on March 8. Eric Mattson, who testified he’s a member of a Constitutionalist group called the

It was his word versus hers, and in a two-day trial, a jury believed him. In the case where ex-Charlottesville Police Department officer Christopher Seymore was charged with forcibly sodomizing Ronna Gary—twice—in her Shamrock Road home, a jury deliberated four-and-a-half hours and found

Light rain falls softly and steady on patchy grass, whispering pat-pat-pat-pat as it dampens the rocky soil. It’s late February, and despite the rain, the air is warm at the foot of Bear Mountain in Amherst County. Dean Branham isn’t wearing a jacket, and rain droplets bead and roll off his

It was a bill that had its own meme. “When Dominion writes the law: We pay twice. They get richer,” said a post that swept the web with the hashtags #HB1558 #KILLTHEBILL and #STOPTHESCAM before the House of Delegates voted to pass the bill 63-35 on February 13. The bill was a response to the

Members of a local upscale fitness club will soon be looking for a place to park. Apex Clean Energy—a company devoted to developing, constructing and operating wind and solar power facilities—announced plans March 1 to build a new headquarters on Garrett Street to house its 170 local employees

August 12 bills killed After white supremacists invaded Charlottesville with violent clashes that left activist Heather Heyer dead and the community traumatized, legislators carried bills to the General Assembly to give localities more muscle in avoiding such gatherings in the future. Attorney

One sign of a healthy economy is when local government adds new positions, and Charlottesville City Manager Maurice Jones has several in his proposed $179 million budget for fiscal year 2019, including 2.5 full-time positions to help city councilors with policy and communications. That $225,000

Amateur archaeologists had been kneeling in the dirt of the South Yard at James Madison’s Montpelier for hours, painstakingly searching for intact artifacts that could be used in exhibits detailing the lives of the enslaved community that was forced to live and toil there. Among them was

In the latest court hearing on the lawsuit stemming from City Council’s vote a year ago to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee, the tarps covering Lee and his Confederate general buddy, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, weren’t the main reason for the court date. But the judge’s ruling that

Nearly eight years after a UVA fourth-year died at the hands of her on-again off-again boyfriend a couple of weeks before graduation in 2010, lawyers representing the family of Yeardley Love were back in court February 22, and a judge granted their motion to compel George Huguely to reveal any

When Jeff Richardson got a call and an invitation to apply for the open county executive position in Albemarle County, the Tar Heel state transplant says his only tie to the area was a three-week leadership program at the University of Virginia about 15 years ago. “Those training opportunities

Andy Goddard has been going to the General Assembly since 2008, the year after his son was shot four times in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. In his 11th year monitoring the legislature and how it deals with mass murders and guns, not much has changed. “It’s the same old thing,” says Goddard,

Albemarle County Executive Jeff Richardson, who took the job November 6, went before the Board of Supervisors on February 16 to propose his first budget, which is nearly 8 percent higher than the one for the current year. He’s recommending $428,500,374 for fiscal year 2019, a $13.5 million

“Wes is a jackass” became a familiar slogan to those living in Charlottesville last summer, as it was scrawled on a giant cardboard sign carried by local retiree Mason Pickett, and its derivative, “Bellamy is a jackass,” was often chalked on the Downtown Mall’s Freedom of Speech Wall as

Let’s just go ahead and get the obligatory warning out of the way: Don’t do illegal stuff. But we know that some of you will, and when you encounter police, at least be aware of your rights so you don’t get yourself in more trouble than you’re already in. For legal advice, we consulted attorney